‘Bold Witness in a Faithless Age’

Iranian-American journalist to share story of his conversion to Catholicism at St. Paul Inside the Walls

SOHRAB AHMARI

By
MICHAEL WOJCIK, News Editor

MADISON Iranian-American journalist Sohrab Ahmari will share the story of his courageous conversion to Roman Catholicism in 2016 — after having been raised in a nominally Islamic household in Iran — and remind Catholics of their responsibility to proclaim the truth in a relativistic society in his presentation, “Bold Witness in a Faithless Age,” on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here.

Also an editor and non-fiction author, Ahmari grew up in Iran under an oppressive Muslim regime and, at age 12, decided that there was no God. The next year, he moved with his family to the United States. In the years after, he explored various religions, philosophies, economic systems and politics. Then, Ahmari made the realization that morality must originate from some universal standard. At the same time, he was developing a hunger for God, as he wrote in a story in the Catholic Herald in 2016.

The spiritually-searching Ahmari was also impressed with the holiness of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the U.S. in 2008 and with his book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” especially with his exploration of Jesus’ Incarnation. Ahmari also started to fall in love with Catholic liturgy. In 2016, Ahmari was baptized a Catholic, after religious instruction with a priest. This past January, Ignatius Press published his spiritual memoir, “From Fire, by Water,” about his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

“Sohrab Ahmari is well known in the fields of politics, journalism and academia, especially in Catholic circles. He is brilliant. We are excited to have him,” said Brian Honsberger, St. Paul’s director of programs and operations, who was impressed with Ahmari’s writing, after having read one of his pieces in the Catholic magazine First Things. Around the same time, Father Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, had also read a piece by Ahmari’s and also was impressed. They decided to invite Ahmari — now the op-ed editor of the New York Post and a contributing editor of the Catholic Herald — to speak at the diocesan evangelization center. “When he converted to Catholicism, Ahmari was forced to be bold in his environment [his Muslim background]. Faithful Catholics often are shy speaking about their beliefs, because they don’t want to offend anybody. Being polite is important but he is saying that speaking the truth is more important,” Honsberger said.

Born in Tehran, Iran in 1985, Ahmari earned a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston. While in law school, he started working as a freelance journalist, inspired in part by protests, after the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential election. Ahmari wrote for such publications as The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal and The New Republic. Also while in law school, Ahmari co-edited the book, “Arab Spring Dreams: The Next Generation Speaks Out for Freedom and Justice from North Africa to Iran,” collection of essays by young Mideast dissidents.

For the Wall Street Journal, Ahmari served an assistant books editor; a writer for the op-ed page in London, where he also commissioned and edited op-eds for the paper’s European edition; and editor of its op-ed page. For the Journal, he also conducted many interviews with prominent politicians, activists and intellectuals for its “Weekend Interview” feature. Ahmari was also a senior writer at Commentary magazine. In 2016, Biteback Publishing issued his book, “The New Philistines,” about how identity politics is corrupting the arts.